As I was called for my scan I was nervous and emotional. And even at that early stage it was beginning to sink in that there was something really not right. All pregnant women should be given the booklet by their midwife or GP Screening tests for you and your baby by Public Health England, which gives detailed information about the types of scan offered and what they are looking for. 20-week ultrasound (anomaly scan) - BabyCenter Australia I couldn't bring myself to push. He started to scan me with a cold expression, then told me - Tommy's Having the scan does not hurt but the sonographer may need to apply slight pressure to get the best views of your baby. And I remember, the first thing I remember when something might be wrong, was I saw, I finally, we finally saw an image of the skull on the screen, and there appeared to be a sort of black hole shape in the middle. The same unique expression he had when he saw our two year old born. . And before they gave me any of the results she asked a colleague to come and told me she wanted to check something, with a colleague, and by then I was getting very concerned because I'd never had that happen before. Let a mum know you're thinking of them send one of our personalised Mother's Day cards today, Home Surely he couldn't have missed anything else that is so serious x. Well send you a link to a feedback form. Because we knew that that wasn't normal, that wasn't what we'd experienced before, it wasn't just the, 'There's the arm, there's the leg, oh look the baby's moving'. So we'd gone through the Down's syndrome or worse scare, we'd had conversations about what we would do, if it was confirmed that it was Down's syndrome or another syndrome, another sort of chromosome abnormality. 2022. Had 34wk scan last week and all is well - of all the babies found to have a two vessel cord, was told less than 6% experience any growth issues etc. I then had to wait in the room along with many other patients for an hour so they could observe me. And it was just a bit of a shock because it's not really what you want to hear - you don't really expect that. It was positive, and I felt elated. Not a good sign in a hospital consulting room. I had to wait for a doctor to explain the situation. I give pregnant women dirty looks. Mumsnet carries some affiliate marketing links, so if you buy something through our posts, we may get a small share of the sale (more details here). Another sick joke. It's been a heartbreaking nightmare. That's fine. But I was struggling mentally with the anguish, grief and endless hospital visits. Trying to carry on as normal, working and putting on a brave face. And this baby sort of floated, and occasionally there was a slight movement, but it was very you could almost see that he was really poorly just from looking at the screen. An appointment should be arranged as soon as possible and ideally within three working days. Sometimes it is difficult to get good views of a baby. Some parents wondered if it was possible to have the same scan done at 16 weeks rather than 20 weeks. I think they perhaps could have done, if they had looked a bit closely. And so this one can't tell you anything, it's pictures, you're going, you're going to see your baby, you're going to get pictures. Most scans show that babies seem to be developing as expected, and none of the 11 conditions are found. And, sometimes, I wish I had invited my whole family into the hospital room to see him. I was given a leaflet and told to return four days later to see the consultant. He started to scan me with a cold expression, then told me, 'it didn't look good' and that 'my womb looked raggedy'. We left for home feeling completely numb. For many other women, the 18-20 week scan was the point at which they discovered the baby had serious problems. By my own hand, I had to end the pregnancy. These were said to be soft markers fo a range of trisomies, 2 of which were incompatible with life. I came back probably about 17 weeks pregnant and had the anomaly scan at 20 weeks and like most people expected everything to be fine and to come away with a lovely picture but unfortunately that isn't what happened. With my oldest it turns out she has a minor thing that affects 1 in 1000 of the population and wont harm her at all it's just "there" and with my second the issue turned out to be nothing. Our position in our families has shifted. The doctor told me he was 98% sure this was a failing twin pregnancy. By this point I had stopped bleeding, this caused problems. Instead, I had to raise a glass of water to my mouth, take a swig and swallow the tablet. Unfortunately I was not met with a compassionate sonographer. The weeks since that day have been very weird. It seemed a very arbitrary system, and so you quite often sat outside in the waiting room for a couple of hours before you actually got to see the consultant, which was, seemed you know, I kind of remember thinking before we went in to see him on the particular day when we found out there was a problem, 'Why are we sitting here? We'll make an appointment with the senior sonographer, the consultant at the local hospital, and she'll do your scan and she'll be able to tell you more things'. Picture every packed football staduim up and down the country - all healthy pregnancies and births. And it's like, I really wanted to see it and I didn't, and it was it was very mixed. Seeing your baby on a screen can be really exciting. And you could see, where you should have a picture of 4 chambers, you could really see 2. This scan takes place between 18 weeks and 20 weeks 6 days of pregnancy and is commonly called the 20-week scan. Living in this world must be unbearable for them. We didn't name him. And shortly after that, that scan we'd finished and the consultant leant back and said, 'I'm afraid we have some problems here'. I was saving my child from pain and suffering. I couldn't really believe what they were saying. If you think you may have a medical emergency, call your doctor, midwife or hospital immediately. I felt crushed, I wanted him to at least acknowledge what had been found already. No one else but my partner saw how similar he was to our son. All the time, the baby was kicking and I felt like a murderer waiting to strike her victim. DS had 2 soft markers: talipes (club foot) and 'echogenic locii' somewhere - heart I think. And at that, I let out a scream I think. I was then told yet again bad news. But everything seemed fine and we'd been sitting waiting to see the consultant, and I'd had an examination on the bed. . After that I got, I, it was about in, in 19-, hang on a minute, 2001 I got pregnant again, slightly unexpectedly. I was becoming numb to the whole process. Chances of bad news at 20 week scan mumsnet How was that scan different from the dating scan? As I left the room to compose myself. I agreed to an internal scan as the sonographer said we could get a better picture of what was happening. It took 20 minutes to push him out. A long process of blood tests, scans, doctors and hospitals. I wanted to be a passive patient while the doctor did what he had to do. Likely to have serious medical problems all his life. So instead, I was advised to go home and let nature take its course. The thing that I have a very strong memory of is this child's face in amazing detail. While some parents understood the clinician's restraint - even when they had to wait an hour or more for a definite diagnosis - others disliked being kept in suspense and wanted to be told what the clinician was thinking. We bought a two tests that evening (quite lucky as I messed the first one up!). I was sent home with a leaflet, strong painkillers and two types of antibiotics. Dont worry we wont send you spam or share your email address with anyone. I endured 12 hours of medication and in the early hours February 7, 56 days after my first scan (at nearly 18 weeks), I miscarried our babies. We walked all the way home. I travelled to work that day feeling amazing. This time, they discovered the baby has a two vessel cord (only one vessel from placenta to baby instead of two) and I've been monitored to make sure the baby grows properly and kidneys aren't damaged. You may like someone to come with you to the scan appointment. Limitations of the 18-20 week scan I was told they needed to do a blood test to get a bench mark of my hormone levels. But they didn't. I had to take a tablet there and then, under the supervision of a nurse, to end the pregnancy. It is essential that all practitioners performing fetal anomaly ultrasound screening should be trained to communicate abnormal findings to women, as such information is likely to have significant emotional impact. The baby was kicking so hard that I began to believe him. Bad news at 20 week scan | Mumsnet In order for the sonographer to get good images of your baby, the scan is carried out in a dimly lit room. It was just sort of deadpan faces, very serious looks, someone else coming to check. I couldn't work out what was taking so long and put it down to the doctor being young and inexperienced. The first result, which tells you if the baby has Down's syndrome, is ready in three days, but the other chromosomal problems cannot be eliminated for up to three weeks. He looked fine. I was told that while bad news at the 12 w scan is often of the life or death kind, bad news at the 20 week scan is often of the 'needs an operation in childhood' or 'needs to wear a brace for a year' kind. We saw the consultant, who was reassuring, saying that he would rescan me and was sure everything would be fine. And it all seemed so near at hand, you know, 31, 30 weeks, you feel like you're nearly, you're on the home stretch. Went back a week later for the scan and, you were with me for this one, weren't you? But that was too easy. We understand the real meaning of "shit happens". So that just left the talipes. So I took the test and jumped in the shower. By this time, we were tired. You know there's always that bit on the bottom of the thing, 'These are diagnostics, do not bring other children,' - blah, blah, blah.. it's not, you know, it's not a family outing kind of thing, but it feels like it. I just want to be normal again. For instance a couple who knew their baby was 'on the small size' were told he was fine at the 18-20 week scan, but discovered at 32 weeks that he had microcephaly. And, it does not occur to you in the slightest. At which point they turned round and said, 'Well, there is something very seriously wrong with the baby, we don't know exactly what, but you do need to have a more in-depth scan at your regional hospital to find out the detail'. We talked about the different sorts of pain relief I could have and I opted for a morphine drip, which I could control. It was interesting - well it was fantastic to see this fetus and to see this child that was yours that was horribly ill - but you didn't really get much opportunity to see that because the consultant was more about measurements and all sorts of blood flow and various other screens coming up. I guess the morphine made it easier. Could you tell? The scan can provide information that may mean you have to make further, important decisions. So he was about two weeks smaller than what he should have been. Eventually she got the measurements she wanted. Sometimes doctors will wait to give the baby more time to develop and carry out repeat scans - this had confused several parents we talked to who had gone for repeat scans not knowing that the baby might have a problem. The same sense of expectation. Two days, after on Christmas Eve, (my 12 week date) I had more blood tests. Can you describe the difference between the scan at this later stage in a pregnancy? We scattered his ashes over a bunch of snowdrops. This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/screening-tests-for-you-and-your-baby/11-physical-conditions-20-week-scan. Then I picked myself up. Went off for the 20-week scan, which you didn't, you weren't there, were you, for the first scan? (See. Some people we talked to had not had a 18-20-week scan, either because their babies' abnormalities had been detected by earlier diagnostic tests (e.g. But I still didn't want to be the one who stopped this baby's chance to live. So on the Monday we went in to see the senior sonographer, I think she was a consultant at the hospital. So and you could see the exomphalus, this little pouch, which was obviously just the intestines where they are. The first words I said were: "If there's anything wrong then it's my fault", I had been working 70, nearly 80 hours the previous weeks and pushed myself hard. In a small number of cases some very serious conditions are found. The rarest scenario is that the baby is severely ill and choices will need to be made. Instinctively, did it feel right? It's a bit at the back of the brain and - no I can't remember what it is - it's called, it's something that's called Dandy-Walker mal, The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) have produced a report on Termination of Pregnancy for Fetal Abnormality in England, Scotland and Wales (May 2010). He told me that they may want to do blood tests, but that 'he didn't see the point'. Forcing my hand to my mouth to take the tablet was probably the hardest thing I have ever done. Health professionals use the 18-20 week scan to examine the baby's size and position, and also to check if his/her brain, heart, lungs and other internal organs are developing as expected. For women who have been given distressing news about their baby during the scan, there should be a health professional available to provide immediate support. Others, including those who had been given leaflets to read about the scan beforehand as well as some who were health professionals, said that they had been nave about the 20-week scan. But now that's changed. He was tiny, perfect and a Down's syndrome baby. There was an extra digit on one of the hands. I want to enjoy my son again, without any reservations. However painful and traumatic the labour was, it was better than what would happen at the end of it. Bad news at 20 week scan, please help. | Mumsnet And the next day we went back to the hospital and we had another scan with a specialist, and he confirmed it was a condition called holoprosencephaly, which I'd never heard of any of these words before, they were just such long words. So once again we were right back down, really no, really not knowing what to expect. Being generous and kind generally happens only when you're happy. See more information about the 20-week ultrasound scan. Impact of the 20-week and later specialist scans And it was Christmas Eve and at the time I didn't think, the sonographer did spend a little bit of time scanning us and queried my dates several times and then explained that she couldn't quite see the baby's heart properly and would we come back in a couple of days? This was on the Friday. . She didn't want to see the baby. I have a terrible hatred of pregnant women and a new respect for infertile couples. We were bound to each other because of the blood that was on both our hands. She wanted to have a look at the skull, which was the main thing, but she couldn't see it from where the baby was. In most cases the scan will show that your baby appears to be developing as expected but sometimes a condition is found or suspected. I was becoming numb to the whole process. And so, yeah we got to, carried on with the pregnancy, kept seeing the consultant, kept sitting in the waiting room outside, because there was a terribly long waiting time sometimes, depending on what time you had the appointment. This image shows a baby's face and hands at 20 weeks, and gives you an idea of what you'll be able to see at this scan. I did. This short video explains screening for 11 physical conditions in pregnancy. Tears started to roll down my face. I went away and came back, and she couldn't get a good picture. So it was just, we were coming up to the 20-week scan and I was just getting more relaxed, just actually starting to look at maybe baby catalogues or, you know, going down the baby aisle at the shops, which I'd always avoided. Slightly marked from our peers. The doctor gave her consent, and I took the four little tablets. The milk came and stayed for what seemed like for ever. We went, I went in to the scanning room and they're quite bland facially anyway, whether everything's fine or not they just look at the screen to start off with and do measurements but I very quickly realised that the woman's demeanour wasn't, even for a bland face, was concerning. Can you remember that minute. Purpose of screening. My partner spent the weekend trying to convince me that things were OK.
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